Winter Diary: A7 Classical

Winter Diary: A7 Classical (stylized as: Winter diary ~A7 Classical~) is a remix compilation album by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki. The album was released on December 23, 2015 in Japan under Avex Trax,[1] and on December 31 in Taiwan under Avex Taiwan.[2] It contains classical arrangements of ten songs personally selected by Hamasaki from her A One and sixxxxxx albums released earlier that year, plus one brand new song titled "Winter diary".[3] It is Hamasaki's fourth classical album overall, following 2013's A Classical.

Winter diary ~A7 Classical~
Remix album by
Ayumi Hamasaki
ReleasedDecember 23, 2015 (2015-12-23) (Japan) December 31, 2015 (2015-12-31) (Taiwan)
Studio
Genre
Length49:38
Label
ProducerMax Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki chronology
sixxxxxx
(2015)		 Winter diary ~A7 Classical~
(2015)		 A Best -15th Anniversary Edition-
(2016)

Background and release

On November 22, via social media, Hamasaki shared an in-studio photo of a new song she was working on, teasing the track's title, "Winter diary" along with the opening words to the lyrics.[4] The photo revealed that she had written the song and Tetsuya Komuro had produced the music.

Two days later, on November 24, Avex officially announced details of Hamasaki's winter project album, titled Winter diary ~A7 Classical~, and that it would be released on December 23.[5] The tracklist of eleven songs was also revealed, with four songs taken from sixxxxxx ("Step by step", "Sorrows", "Summer diary" and "Sky high"), six songs taken from A One ("Warning", "Last Minute", "NO FUTURE", "Out of control", "The GIFT", and 'The Show Must Go On"), and the final track being the song she had teased only days prior and the album's namesake, "Winter diary", written as a companion or sequel to "Summer diary". It was also disclosed that popular violinist Okabe Machi featured on three of the tracks, "WARNING", "NO FUTURE", and "The Show Must Go On".

The official cover artwork for the album was revealed on November 30.[6] Audio excerpts from three of the newly arranged songs were posted on Hamasaki's official YouTube account as further teasers prior to release day, "Winter diary" on December 10,[7][8] "Step by step" on December 11,[9][10] and "Last minute" on December 13.[11][12]

Promotion

Hamasaki promoted the album by starting an Instagram account on December 23, 2015 that initially was only to be open for one month until January 23, 2016,[13] but currently remains active to present day. She shared pictures of the music video shooting for "Winter Diary", which was recorded in Taiwan, and also the preparations for her Ayumi Hamasaki Countdown Live 2015-2016 A: Made In Tokyo concerts where she later performed the new song.[14]

Track listing
No.TitleMusicProgrammed/Arranged ByLength
1."WARNING"Kazuhiro HaraTakashi Ohmama3:51
2."Step by step"Tetsuya YukumiDaisuke Kadowaki4:32
3."Sorrows"Tetsuya YukumiYoshihiko Ishizaka4:40
4."Last minute"Tetsuya YukumiNatsumi Tabuchi4:24
5."Summer diary"Tetsuya YukumiHanae Nakamura4:25
6."Sky high"Tetsuya YukumiYutaka Yamada3:51
7."NO FUTURE"Tetsuya KomuroYuri Habuka5:53
8."Out of control"Tetsuya YukumiNatsumi Tabuchi4:49
9."The GIFT"JJ LinHanae Nakamura3:50
10."The Show Must Go On"Tetsuya KomuroShu Kanematsu6:21
11."Winter diary (Original mix) [Special Track] *previously unreleased*"Tetsuya KomuroYuta Nakano5:42
Total length:49:38

Personnel

Recorded at Sound City, Onkio Haus Studio, and Prime Sound Studio Form, Tokyo, Japan. Management by Avex Trax in Tokyo, Japan.

Personnel adapted from the liner notes of the physical album.[15]

  • Hiroshi Arakawa – flute, piccolo flute
  • Kohei Chida – direction (recording)
  • Mariko Fukushi – bassoon
  • Ayumi Hamasaki – primary vocals, lyrics
  • Tomoki Ihira – guitar (track 11)
  • Youta Ishizuka – assistant engineer
  • Norihiko Katsumata – assistant engineer
  • Hiroshi Kawasaki – mastering
  • Koji Morimoto – mixing
  • Hidehito Naka – clarinet
  • Yuta Ohno – french horn
  • Keiichiro Sato – bass trombone
  • Satoshi Shoji – oboe
  • Yoji Sugiyama – musician coordination
  • Masaki Tanaka – french horn
  • Yoshiyuki Uema – french horn
  • Yutaro Wada – assistant engineer
  • Hidetomo "KOME" Yoneda – direction
  • Soma Yoshihara – assistant engineer


  • Recorded By – Hiroshi Sato (4) (Tracks: 11), Kiyoshi Okabe (Tracks: 1-10)
  • Snare – Shu Kanematsu, Shunichi Ihara, Yusuke Yoshida, Yutaka Yamada (Track 8)
  • Strings – Koichiro Muroya Strings
  • Trombone – Azusa Tojo, Nobuhide Handa
  • Trumpet – Kai Takaara, Yoshinori Tanuma
  • Violin – Machi Okabe (Tracks: 1, 7, 10), Yuko Kajitani (Track 11)
  • Vocals (Backing) – Manami Noro, Yumi Kawamura (Track 11)

Charts
Chart Peak
position		 Ref
Japan Daily Albums (Oricon) 5 [16]
Japan Weekly Albums (Oricon) 11 [17]

References
  1. "『Winter diary ~A7 Classical~』【CD】".
  2. "Ayumi Hamasaki – Winter Diary ~A7 Classical~".
  3. "浜崎あゆみ 小室哲哉書き下ろし「Winter diary」試聴音源公開＆本日深夜にも新たな楽曲解禁". billboard-japan. December 12, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  4. "ムフ.......出来たっ". 浜崎あゆみ（ayumi hamasaki）official. November 22, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  5. "冬企画アルバム『Winter diary ～A7 Classical～』リリース決定！！これは『A ONE』『sixxxxxx』をベースとした、新たな解釈となる"ニューアルバム"だ。". avex.jp. November 24, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  6. "『Winter diary ～A7 Classical～』アートワーク公開!! ("Winter diary ~A7 Classical~" Artwork release!!)". avex.jp. November 30, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  7. "浜崎あゆみ / Winter diary (from 12.23 Release『Winter diary 〜A7 Classical〜』)". Youtube. December 10, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  8. "12月23日発売のウィンターアルバム『Winter diary ～A7 Classical～』より、未発表新曲「Winter diary」視聴動画が公開！". avex.jp. December 10, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  9. "浜崎あゆみ / Step by step (from 12.23 Release『Winter diary 〜A7 Classical〜』)". Youtube. December 11, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  10. "12月23日発売のウィンターアルバム『Winter diary ～A7 Classical～』より、Twitterアンケートで1位を獲得した「Step by step」試聴動画公開！". avex.jp. December 12, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  11. "浜崎あゆみ / Last Minute (from 12.23 Release『Winter diary 〜A7 Classical〜』)". Youtube. December 13, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  12. "12月23日発売のウィンターアルバム『Winter diary ～A7 Classical～』より、第2弾Twitterアンケートで1位を獲得した「Last minute」試聴動画公開！". avex.jp. December 14, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  13. Hamasaki, Ayumi. "Ayumi Hamasaki's Official Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  14. "Hamasaki Ayumi launches Instagram account for a limited time". Tokyo Hive. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  15. Hamasaki, Ayumi (2015). Winter diary ~A7 Classical~ (Liner notes). Ayumi Hamasaki. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-93326.
  16. "Daily CD Album Ranking" (in Japanese). December 24, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  17. "Weekly CD Album Ranking (December 21, 2015-December 27, 2015" (in Japanese). January 1, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
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